It’s one of the most fundamental, elemental tropes in storytelling — the good guy vs. the bad guy, light vs. darkness, good vs. evil. The examples are infinite — Harry Potter vs. Voldemort, Luke Skywalker vs. Darth Vader, the Three Little Pigs vs. the Big Bad Wolf, to name a few. But it’s not always so cut and dry — sometimes the villain has a point. This is Unpopular Opinions: When the Villain Was Right.
The Wicked Witch of the West — “The Wizard of Oz”
One doesn’t have to go into deep analyses of the L. Frank Baum original or even the Broadway adaptation, “Wicked,” to understand where our main antagonist is coming from. From being demoted from Governess of Munchkinland to living in exile — or being turned green, for that matter — the Wicked Witch of the West can trace all her problems back to Glinda the Good Witch of the South. Yet, the last straw seems to be when her sister has a house dropped on her by none other than Dorothy Gale, and thus our favorite revenge story begins. Viewers may seem to forget that the Wicked Witch is only trying to avenge the death of her sister. I wouldn’t be too happy if someone dropped a house on my sister, either. — Nicole
The Man in Black — “Westworld”
The Man in Black participates in the park at a higher level than all of the other guests. If “Westworld” blurs the line between man and machine, then the Man in Black takes this paranoia to the next level. He answers the question, “What is human?” with a resounding, solipsistic and definite “Myself.” He unapologetically treats almost everyone in the park as a tool for his personal gain. He’s worthy of admiration because if anybody will answer the park’s deepest questions, it will be the Man in Black in his single-minded quest. Perhaps nobody in “Westworld” understands the reality of the situation as fully as him. — Dante
The Alien — “Alien”
This 1979 horror/sci-fi classic begins when the crew of the commercial freighter spaceship Nostromo detects a transmission from an uncharted moon and they send a team to investigate. One of the crew disturbs a glowing, egg-like pod, releasing a creature that attaches itself to his face. The crew brings him back on board, kicking off a series of events — including that famous dinner scene — that culminates in them being hunted down and killed one-by-one by the titular alien. But that doesn’t mean that it’s evil or even a villain in the traditional sense — it’s an animal obeying its instincts, even if those instincts are to gruesomely dismember people. As laid out in the prequels “Prometheus” (2012) and “Alien: Covenant” (2017), the alien is a member of a race of creatures genetically engineered to kill people. I’m not saying that’s a good thing; I’m just saying that it’s not its fault! — Alex
Sharpay — “High School Musical”
I won’t lie, as a child, I was embarrassed when I watched the High School Musical movies because the only character I identified with was Sharpay Evans — evil manifested as the color pink, as they portrayed her. She is by far the most ambitious, driven character in the movies. If we look past her questionable methods, she is simply a woman who knew what she wanted. I admire her, and I think the films really did her dirty. Her depiction as the airheaded, shrill queen bee is completely disingenuous. She worked her ass off for what she had. The theater department would have been NOTHING without her, and after all her years of hard work, she still had to play second fiddle to Ms. Crippling Shyness and Mr. Indecisive. A modern tragedy is what that is. So the next time you watch HSM, try to look at it from a different perspective. The Devil works hard, but Sharpay works harder! — Sakshi
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